Articles for use in protecting animals from physical harm and insulating them from harsh environments have been around as long as animals have been held as domestic pets and as valuable undomesticated animals. With the increased domestication and integration into family life of household pets, it has become increasingly popular to include pets in all family events, exposing them to environments that are atypical to their breed or vary from their day-to-day lives. It is also increasingly popular to afford domestic pets human luxuries such as fashionable outerwear.
Prior art garments that protect common household pets, for example, dogs, during field exercises or hunting conditions, include complex shapes and pads having multiple pieces that need to be secured together on the animal and, depending on the level of protection required, are bulky and cumbersome.
Prior art garments with insulating properties further comprise multiple pieces requiring at least partial assembly on the animal. Such devices incorporate numerous points of attachment around the animal, requiring difficult movements by the user, such as bending and kneeling down for an extended period, to position the garment on the animal and then secure it. The highly active nature of animals, particularly canine puppies and young dogs, renders the difficult and complex installation of such garments even more trying. Prior art insulating garments further fail in many instances from adequately insulating the upper ears, neck and chest portions of animals and are not readily adaptive to protect the head without bulky hoods or caps.
Prior art designs due to the complex, multi-piece design and attachment schemes noted above, further make the garment expensive, difficult to manufacture and more importantly, difficult to install and use both for the user and the animal.
Consequently, it would be desirable to provide an animal coat improving on the problematic conditions in the prior art and to provide a coat which is inexpensive, facilitates manufacturing and assembly, and is easy to secure, use and remove while affording substantial protection to the animal from harsh environments.